The comments come on the heels of criticism of another politician, Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, where cousins age 14 and 15 were raped and lynched last week. Yadav failed to visit the scene. His uncle, Public Works Department minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, blamed the media for “blowing” the story out of proportion.

Police use water cannons to stop protesters from moving toward the office of Akhilesh Tadav during a protest against the gang-rape and murder of two girls.Photo: Reuters

Yadav’s father, Mulayam Singh, who heads the Samajwadi Party, drew anger in April when he denounced a recently introduced death penalty for gang rapists, saying “boys make mistakes.”

Protesters light candles for the two young victims.Photo: AP

Gaur is also cited as saying rape can only be considered a crime if it is reported to the police.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has distanced itself from Gaur’s comments, saying they are his personal views, but party leader Modi has so far remained conspicuously silent about the assault and killing of the girls.

Indifference to violence against women appears to be endemic, with police offering little support even when incidents are reported.

At a demonstration against the rise in violence against women in Uttar Pradesh over the weekend, police — including female officers — used water cannons to disperse hundreds of female protesters.

Police also failed to take any action when the father of one of the two girls reported to the police that the cousins were missing. Two police officers were fired for dereliction of duty after the discovery that the girls had been gang-raped and killed.

One of the girls’ fathers said police took more than 12 hours to respond to a report they were missing. If the police had acted promptly, they could have been rescued, he added.

Police cordon off the area while villagers look toward the tree from which the two girls were hung.Photo: AP

Not all politicians are failing to represent the dire concerns of their female constituents.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has spoken up about the urgent need for “changing mindsets.”

“There can be no development, no prosperity and no progress if such barbarism is allowed to continue,” he said.